New England Colonies and Southern Colonies

The New England colonies' culture and economy and the Southern colonies' culture and economy had vastly large differences that set them apart. Colonies in New England were founded as either purgatories or escapes for many religious groups. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania were founded as somewhat purgatories from other colonies that were set up to be escapes for certain religious groups, like Massachusettes. The New England colonies also had a much stronger family life that included a longer lifespan, larger families, more woman's rights, and lower divorce rates. The economy itself was seen as an after thought and simply to mantain such a strong sense of community. Though the economy wasn't as such a large part of their society the fishing market in New England was an incredibly large and powerful one.

No matter how strong the fishing enterprise in New England was, the Southern colonies were much more economy focused than the New England colonies. It's use of slaves shows how economy focused the Southern colonies are. New England colonies did not use slaves due to their strong religious beliefs, while the South saw the advantage of having free labor and exploited the slaves. Also, a vast amount of property in the South was privately owned by plantation owners. The plantation owners bought the land in order to plant tobacco and thus left little room for towns. All these factors made the South economy focused and left them with little to no sense of community.